NEB review panel may assess Energy East’s carbon pollution

After years of advocacy and thousands of emails from supporters like you, the National Energy Board (NEB) finally listened: The climate impacts of the proposed Energy East pipeline matter, and should be assessed by the project review panel.

Photo credit: Adam Vaughan / The Canadian Press

Last week, the NEB panel reviewing Energy East released a draft list of the issues it will consider when assessing the proposed pipeline. The panel proposes to consider the carbon emissions associated with Energy East. This includes the emissions from the construction and operation of the proposed pipeline, the tar sands expansion it would enable, and the emissions from burning the oil carried by Energy East.

Carbon pollution might seem like an obvious issue for the NEB to consider, but it’s actually a first! And it’s the result of years of pressure from the Canadian public and groups like Environmental Defence. It’s part of a last-ditch effort by the federal government to restore some semblance of public confidence in the NEB’s review of Energy East.

The NEB panel has taken positive steps with this announcement, but it is putting the cart before the horse. Just days after the proposed additions to the list of issues, the Expert Panel on NEB Modernization released a report recommending dramatic changes to energy regulation, environmental assessments, and pipeline reviews in Canada. It even recommended the abolition of the NEB itself. The recommended reforms could take months, perhaps years, to implement.

If the federal government truly wants a credible review of Energy East that enjoys public confidence, it should postpone the NEB review until the overhaul of energy regulation and environmental laws is complete. Anything less will lack credibility and be plagued by controversy and delay. Moving forward with the review would make Energy East the last tar sands pipeline to undergo NEB review using a broken, outdated process by a regulator that might not even exist a year from now.

But if the federal government insists on moving forward with the Energy East—before NEB modernization is complete—then we need to be able to tell the NEB that this pipeline would blow Canada’s climate commitments and the Alberta emissions cap, and does not make economic sense in a world moving away from fossil fuels.